Kikxotian Proverb, religion and animals

Just linking to a reddit post I did today with a Kikxotian proverb plus a bunch of talk about how animals work.

https://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs/comments/gss3ra/aphorisms_proverbs_and_sayings_22/fs7yzl7/

I'll paste it here too

Toúījāb Kīkxot - Hard mode
Ōmūfakh vit ayyōp phophalgīí ūkītos ūmpa mōnak gaxitpa
[oːmuːħǝk' ʕɪ θǝhoː p'ɔp'ǝlgiː juːxiːθɔ suːmpǝ moːnǝ gːǝʃɪtpǝ]

<ōCūCaC>.MFKh vit <aCCōC>.YYP ~<oCCīC>.Ph<al>GÍ ūkītos ūmpa mōnak <CiCCa>.G<ax>TP
<AGN.IV>apostasy REL <INTRS.II>.night  HAB~<TRNS.II><AGEN>.see two.times CONJ.SS NEG <TRNS.IV><PSS>.blessing

"A silent apostate sees twice and isn't rewarded"

First to explain the proverb. I took the original one to mean that you should focus on one thing at a time lest you complete neither. Well, I admit I twisted that a bit to fit better with Kikxotian society. The essential cultural (and linguistic) details are as follows:

Kikxotian religion is centered on worship of Kikxo. Kīkxo [kiːkʃɔ] is the great protector and anyone who serves him will be protected from evil. The opposite of Kikxo is Khluzā [k'lʊtʃaː] "The Envious One" (or one of his many other names). Khluza is jealous of Kikxo and wants to destroy everything Kikxo has out of spite. Kikxo is more than powerful enough to protect his followers but this is costly and he won't protect someone who doesn't appreciate it. Khluza doesn't protect his followers (why would they need protection? He is the source of evil) but he does "reward" them in this life with the things he has power over. He gives no protection in the afterlife though.

There are many types of followers of Khluza. The word used here literally means apostate, as in someone who rejects Kikxo. Apostates are a type of ōmūkaqzō [oːmuːxǝq'tʃoː], "demon person, follower of Khluza" (the other two main groups there are heretics (ōqūúab [oːq'uːwǝb]), and blasphemers (ōbūvaj [oːvuːʕǝdz])). Ayyōp literally means "to move silently" and has specific reference to night and shadows, which are seen as evil times. In this phrasing, it basically means crypto-, so the final phrase could be translated as "crypto-apostate". While a crypto-apostate's heart might be in the right place (well wrong place but you get what I mean), just silently rejecting Kikxo is not sufficient for Khluza to reward you, since you aren't really undermining anything with your action. It's like slacktivism, but worse.

Ophgīí is a transitive verb. There's no object but it is implied. Since ōmūfakh refers to a human, the phrase should use pihma [pɪʔmǝ]. Using the word which refers to the things an animal sees is a derisive remark, though fitting with the rest of the proverb. The lack of zō at the end of ōmūfakh makes this even more degrading. Here, the phrasing can basically be interpreted as "someone who is looking in two directions".

Putting all these together, the phrasing basically means "someone who half asses two things gets nothing", which I think gets close enough to the original proverb. Though you could also interpret it as "If you're gonna be bad, be evil" which is not a very wholesome proverb at all.

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Now for the questions. Animals are specifically the domain of two (of the four) "clans" in the broader food-producer caste. The herders (wyīúu [ɹiːwʊ] are in charge of taking care of domestic animals, while the hunters (rxību [rǝʃiːvʊ]) deal with wild animals and animal processing. Small scale farmers often have animals like oxen (cōmum [tsoːmʊm]) and horses (kōduh [koːðʊʔ]) that they keep themselves. It's not uncommon to keep ferrets (sōtum [soːθʊm]) or cats (zhōluq [tʃ'oːlʊq']) as mousers. Dogs (rōxub [roːʃʊb]) are also fairly common in rural settings among all groups of people. Otherwise, people outside of those clans don't interact with animals much.

Some animals are quite respected in the culture. Of special note are the bear (gōduk [goːðʊk]), sheep (kōkub [koːxʊb]), and honeybee (dōsur [doːsʊr]), each of which gives their name to one of the broader castes (which can best be thought of as "nobles", "peasants" and "tradesmen" respectively). Some animals like yōyup [hoːhʊp] (flying night creatures, eg. owls and bats) and snakes (wōluf [ɹoːlʊħ]) are feared. In the foothills, seeing a kherū [k'erʷ] ("a kind of eagle", this is a loan from a local language and is given in the mountain dialect) is considered good luck. Similarly, islanders are fond of parakeets (raíīd [rǝjiːd], also a loan word given in dialect). In general, Kikxotians like seeing birds (kōzur [koːtʃʊr]) and they don't consider owls to be birds.

As for nature, the Kikxotians aren't very environmentally conscious. Forests are respected but the average person doesn't enter them, rivers are polluted and marshes are deliberately filled in (marshes are considered bad in their religion). In general, people stick to villages, towns and cultivated fields unless their clan dictates otherwise. The hunter clan is actually considered very suspicious because their duty requires that they spend lots of time in the wilderness. That being said, because of their dislike of the wilderness, Kikxotians are very good and transforming land into something more palatable. This has the double effect (seen as good in their eyes) of disrupting "traditional" structures in their colonies (ātufr [aːθʊħǝr]), making it easier to bring Kikxo's word to new, captive audiences.

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While I'm here, I should probably mention the animal name patterns. Basically, sometime between ~2500 years ago (when TbKt broke off from its closest relatives to the west) and ~1500 years ago (when its first literary tradition started), there was a massive shift in animal words. Many animal words, including some of the most common ones, were replaced with epithets. They were attached to various verbs and could basically be translated as "the X one". For example, rōxub is clearly related to rxību, so whatever the old word for dog was, it got replaced with "the hunting one".

Other animal words kept their general form but were forced into the new pattern (which was probably a bit more recent and in line with other analogical levelings that occurred in the early literary era). Kōduh appears to be one of these nouns. Loanwords for animals followed this pattern as well, being turned more or less into a root and then converted to fit. Shōbum [s'oːvʊm] "fish" seems to be a case of this. As inland pastoralists, either didn't have a strong connection to their original word for fish or they loaned one from the original inhabitants of their land to refer to a certain type of fish that then generalized to all fish.

After (or probably during) all this analogy, new verbs started to be coined off the animals. As such, many of the verbs in this class are quite specific and do provide reminders to all Kikxotians about animals, even if they don't interact with them much.

Random (Real) Languages (take 1)

Gonna play a game with myself, for myself. I'll choose one language from each of Glottolog's families (the first dozen or so at least) that I haven't studied before but think would be cool to learn and explain why. Oh and while I won't go too weird, I'll try to keep my things kinda off the beaten path, though I am going to try to minimize outside sources. If I can't think of a qualifying language then maybe that means I've gone too deep. Clicking on the glottolog links is allowed though, if I need a memory job. I'm using Glottolog because it is a little more conservative with its groupings, which makes this more fun.

Atlantic-Congo

There's literally hundreds here, of course. I think I'd go with Fula/Pula(a)r/Fulfulde, though I don't know which dialect. It has a number of cool features. First of all, by being "Atlantic" (and specific Senegambian) it is hip. But it has a robust class system so I get to play with that (unlike say Yoruba). I'd choose one of the dialects with consonant mutation, since that's fun. And unlike most Atlantic-Congo languages, I wouldn't have to worry about tones.

Going beyond linguistic reasons, I've recently become quite interested in the Sahel and its peoples. As one of the biggest and most widespread groups in the region, knowing some Fula might be useful in learning about them and working with them (especially since working in dev and agriculture might very well bring me to their region). And it sets me apart from all those numerous Hausa speakers, though there's dubious value in that.

Austronesian

Ahh yes, the one I could go on for ages about. And not just cause it has so many languages, but because I have a long history with it and lots of uses for it. And they're super cool structurally. Hell, I could do a whole post just on MP branches. Anyway, my choice for today though is pretty basic: Malagasy. First of all, it could be useful (for many of the same reasons as Fula, actually). But also it is just a cool language in and of itself. It has a (simplified) Philippine voice system to work with. It's phonology is whack, with all those voiceless vowels and stuff. And it has a visibility distinction for deictic system. Plus Madagascar would just be cool to visit.

Indo-European

It's pretty lame that some people would have a lot of difficulty with this one. For me it's easy: Ossetian. I find most IE languages boring, but Indo-Iranian is one of the better branches. Ossetian is a Scythian language, which is pretty dope. Not to mention, it has ejectives now, making objectively one of the cooler IE languages. Add in the awesome ethnic flag and at least there is something here. Sure it is the most useless of the languages I've mentioned so far but not everything can be useful. Not sure about any particular grammar things of Ossetian but I'd guess it's pretty typically Iranian.

Trans-Himalayan 

I don't like using Sino-Tibetan even though that's what Glottolog uses. Anyway there's quite a few possibilities here. For this round I'll draft Burmese. It has some interesting sounds in its inventory and would be a decent introduction to tones, for one. It is also one of the more widely spoken non-Sinitic languages in the family, so there is some use. Plus for my line of work (once again) it is a fairly useful language to know and area to be acquainted with. As far as grammar is concerned, it is highly isolating which is fun for someone used to more inflection, yannow. Maybe anyway.

Afro-Asiatic

Another hard one. In this case, I will go with Beja. Yeah sure if I wanted Cushtic something like Somali or Oromo would make more sense. But I gotta say that I am just fascinated by Beja and how there are relatively few sources (even for cushtic languages which are hard to find to say the least). I can't even say much about what's special with Beja, just that I would like to learn it. Tbf, it's not even the most hip Cushtic language (that would probably be Agaw or Iraqw or if you're really a conlanging trend follower, Dahalo). But they are desert pastoralists, which seems to be my thing.

(Nuclear) Trans-New Guinea

As always, I try to think of a language before I look at a list. In this case, I am still able to do that. The language I choose is Nduga. This might seem like a really random one. Well, it is. But in this case, I have some personal reasons for it. I happen to know a guy from there, which is a good enough reason to learn a language. It is also undergoing a refugee crisis, which goes back to my whole background, in a way. Linguistically, I can't say much about it, there aren't many resources. I hear though that it is a very typical Dani language, and therefore typical for TNG. That means it has features like switch reference, lots of serial verbs, clause chaining and all those other things that make Papuan languages fun. But in the end, there just simply isn't much more I am able to say about it right now.

Pama-Nyungan

This is going to be difficult. I simply can't remember many PN languages, let alone their names. Arrernte though, that has some weird features. Of course, that makes it really trendy to choose, but I can't be picky right now. The most interesting thing about Arrente is that it might have an underlying VC structure, which is more or less unique. It has a vertical (ish, at least) vowel system as well. As a PN language, it is non-configurational (iirc) which is cool as well. Not to mention some fun cases and noun extensions. At the very least it would be different (though as far as I am aware, classically PN). And it might be one of the more useful Aboriginal languages, because it is used in Alice Springs, not that I'd have any intention of living there. All that makes a decent case I guess.

Otomanguean

This, like PN, is one where I have to choose based on memory and then see what I can do. So I can choose Zapotec. Unfortunately, I can't say much about it. Like other OM languages it is fairly isolated and has really funky tones. Both of those are cool. It's fairly isolating, which might notice is something I'm interested in (weird, I know).  And yeah, that's actually all I can really say here.

Austroasiatic

Finally one I have opinions about again. There's a lot I could choose from here. This round, I think I will go with Khasi, but it wasn't easy. Khasi was one of the first MK (using so that AA can go to Afro-Asiatic) languages I looked into, plus Northeast India is cool. If I recall correctly, it's a bit more agglutination than most non-Munda MK while still having that fairly analytic charm. It has noun incorporation that doesn't look much like incorporation on the surface (like even less so than Fijian, I think). Not nearly as insane as aslian languages, but still cool. And a bit more useful.

Tai-Kadai

While the responsible answer would be Thai, Lao, Shan or Isan, I'm gonna say (Paha) Buyang. Why? Because it is an essential language in putting together the Austro-Tai hypothesis, which I've slowly come to think is pretty cool. It also has an insane consonant inventory (like well over 50 consonants I think). This might be the smallest and most endangered language I've chosen so far. Even more so than the very ill-defined Zapotec and possibly even Arrernte.

Also I'm now in the families with less than 100 languages so I will probably stop soon.

Dravidian

Brahui, because it is the only northern one I can name off the top of my head. Also Pakistan. Dravidian languages in general are pretty cool, with lots of participial and stuff, so I don't think I would mind learning any of them.

I'm gonna end here because I have 0 opinions on Arawakan and just do some honorable mentions.

• Mande: Manding because let's be real, Mandinka/Bambara/Dyula/Malinke are all very similar and more or less mutually intelligible. So that opens up a big portion of West Africa and the Sahel without having to learn French.
• Nilotic: Dinka, specifically Dinka Bor. This one was hard because there are a lot of Nilotic languages that are interesting but Dinka (Bor) has weird vowels, weird alignment and weird grammar in general. Like seriously, it supposedly has a voicing system like and three contrastive vowel lengths. This is totally a language worth knowing. 
• Mayam: Kaqchikel because that's what my grandfather speaks. You know, I had a chance to take a semester of K'iche' but I didn't end up signing up. Regrets man, regrets.
• Timor-Alor-Pantar: I feel like I've read just a bit too much on Abui grammar, so let's go south and say Fataluku. Which I think is actually really different than Abui. Decently useful in timor though.

And that's all folks (for now).

Kikxotian Castes

So I've been sitting on this one for a while (my notes for this are almost 5 years old at this point!) but I've also been reading a lot about worldwide caste systems which inspired me to finish this.

One notable part of Kikxotian culture is its quite complex caste system, or tkuba. There are 14 different exogamous clans (nphuva) which roughly fall into three mostly endogamous castes/levels, called kkubī (literally constellation). The Tkuba is very closely linked with Kikxotian religion, including its mysteries, and has a complex symbolism, marriage rites, taboos, and duties attached to it. Each clan is more linked to a broad set of occupations, though individual occupations are usually inherited as well.  Table 1 acts as an English language introduction to some of these symbols.

Table 1: The Tkuba

Body	Male	Female	Kkubī
Soul	Rulers	Priests	Bear
Head	Warriors	Scribes
Stomach	Hunters	Herders	Sheep
Groin	Fishers	Farmers
Arms	Gatherers	Craftsmen	Bee
Feet	Processors	Builders
Heart	Merchants	Artists

As can be seen, each kkubī is associated with a certain animal, while two nphuva each are associated with a given body part. Each nphuva is also associated with a gender, which is mostly relevant in marriage taboos. As such, it makes sense to talk about those next.

People may only marry within their kkubī,  though this taboo is much weaker in the lower two strata. Furthermore, you may not marry someone from your father's clan or your mother's clan. Finally, you must marry someone from a clan of the opposite gender class. Thus in practice, someone born in the highest caste will know from birth their future spouse's clan. This also means that political marriages are rarely happen in the most direct way, with one prince (mīhlo) marrying his children to the children of another mīhlo to form an alliance.The gender class marriage taboo is by far the strongest of all the marriage taboos and intimately tied with Kikxotian mystery rites. While that really is for another post, the short explanation is that each clan is associated with a house god (shīyto) and marriage is seen as a symbolic linkage of protection between those shīyto. Thus, since someone is already under the protection of their parents' respective shīyto, it makes no sense to marry into the protection you already have and the shīyto only link with a shīyto of the opposite sex.

On an outside anthropological note, exogamy at the clan level is actually might preclude this from being a true caste system. On a broader note though, the religion itself is endogamous and all converts are adopted into a nphuva.  

Adoption is probably the next major topic to cover. Inclusion in a nphuva is usually passed down patrilinerally. The main exception is if the father is adopted into his wife's nphuva for the purpose of following his father-in-law's occupation (though just as a wife stays with her clan formally, he stays in his). Then all their children are part of the mother's nphuva. The next exception is that a matrilineal grandfather can adopt one or more of his grandsons as an inheritor of his occupation, even if the father has his own occupation within his birth nphuva. Then this specific son is in his mother's clan, different from his siblings. 

The other adoptions are generally political or for convenience. Sometimes someone powerful is born in a clan lower than their standing. Other times, they are good at an occupation outside their clan. Sometimes there's just too many or too few people in an occupation and some movement is needed to maintain balance in society. Unlike adoptions related to marriage, the recipient actually changes nphuva. For people who haven't undergone the rituals of the Lōbopāb Kīkxot this doesn't mean to much (mostly a change in customs and dress), but those who have done the rituals will need to redo them. Marriage generally precludes any sort of adoption like this.


In all cases, adoption is a formal process approved by a Wyīúuzō. This is an occupation in the priest clan with the formal rights to prophecy directed toward individuals, including being able to see which shīyto "truly" protects them. This post is not about religion, so I won't go more into the roles of the wyīúuzō at this time.

As for the other symbols, these have to do with ritual tattoos, decorations/imagery in art, and other things of that nature. They do not have a large role in day to day life. Next I will give a brief overview of each clan. This will cover some of the occupations in each clan. Another important note is that while occupations are generally hereditary and people need to do an occupation within their clan, there is no taboo to changing to another occupation within your clan. The taboo (fixed by adoption) only happens when doing jobs outside of the clan.

The Phruyā (rulers) clan contains occupations relating to government. All princes come from this clan, as do the high kings. "Lower" families are in charge or regions, serve as mayors, or in particularly poor cases are simply landowners with no real claim to a territory. As such, members of this clan are found throughout Kikxotian territory. Kikxotian governance is complex and ever changing and not the topic of this article. It suffices to say that a mayor with a sufficient warlord backing could become the high king, as unlikely as it is, and he would be seen as legitimate.

The Srīsu (warriors) clan's main official duty is watching the āwung hākanat in the wōboth. Every settlement, from the smallest village to the great cities, has one of these towers with a signal fire inside. From these towers, the warriors defend their locality and keep peace. Now, all military officers come from this clan, but when there are not enough warriors, soldiers and guards are often drawn. Thus, a small town may only have one or two warrior families. A village without a resident warrior might either try to attract one with money or more likely have their fire kept by a resident given authority to do so from the closest mayor and warrior. Many warriors become mercenaries, especially when conflict between princes is low. Due to their higher status and education, they are often the leaders of mercenary bands, rather than just foot soldiers.

On the female side of the Bear Kkubī, there are the Gīsto (clergy/priests). There are three occupations within this clan. The first are the Bqīyu, or preachers. They lead úōhod, interpret scripture and generally act as community leaders to their followers. The next ones are the aforementioned wyīúuzō. Finally there are Ltīxu, who perform sacrifices and rituals. Unlike the other two clerical occupations, there is almost no lateral entry into the priesthood. You must be born into it (or be adopted in). Similarly, almost no priest leaves to another occupation because there's generally always very high demand for them. This can be very frustrating to the much more numerous bqīyu who often become missionaries or travel long distances trying to make a living.

Then there are the Olūvat (scribes). The primary occupation of the scribes is to be literally that, so many are located in large cities and trading hubs. Some are researchers or follow other scholarly pursuits. While the scribes are known for their literacy, many people in the Bear Kkubī can read and write. It is also common among merchants, some craftsmen, and some artists.

Next comes the Sheep Kkubī. These clans all deal with food production and are often more geographically concentrated than the Bear kkubī, because they are not essential state administration. The first one is the Rxību (hunters). This clan is not only in charge of bringing in meat from the wild, but also act as butchers (including for the shepherds), curers and tanners. In short, they are the ones who turn animals into materials that can be used by others. Many hunters have a close relationship with warriors and often serve (part time or full time) as guards, soldiers, and mercenaries, though hunters are often jealous of the higher status that warriors have. The hunters are often seen as the most mysterious and aloof clan by the others, due to the long time they spend in the wilderness, emphasis on combat. Non-butcher hunters are rare in cities and often subject to abuse and suspicion. In turn, many crime rings are allegedly run by hunters. Slavers also often come from the hunter clan.

Compared to the hunters, the Shbīmu (fishers) are a relatively beloved clan. Beyond extracting resources from the sea and rivers, fishers are sailors, delivering goods down the river and across the bay. As sailors, many are also pirates, especially in times of instability. Pearl divers and trepangers form one of the more closed off occupations, mostly due to geographic and skill constraints.

The Wyīúu (herders), not to be confused with the clerical occupation, take care of animals. The richer ones own their own herds. Others care for the herds of others. There isn't much more to say about them, really. While they do not do butchering, they do milk animals and create milk products. They have close connections with almost all clans that might have stables, though in more individual circumstances, people of all clans take care of their own kōduh. Farmers also plow fields with their own cōmum though large landholders with many oxen will probably hire a herder to take care of them.

The last of the Sheep Kkubī is the Ānīvs (farmers). These are the people who grown plants from the ground. Pretty straightforward. Some of them own their own land, others don't. Some tend the gardens of merchant and princes in cities (though that's more likely to be a slave). Some have enough land to hire other farmers or slaves to work for them. Outside of growing food, the farmer clan is responsible for some processing and storage. However some other types of processing are more commonly done by other groups.

The Bee Kkubī represents a diverse set of clans. The first is the Cxīlu (gatherers). This encompasses anyone who gathers materials from the natural environment for processing. The biggest group of these are the miners and lumberjacks. In some cases, these people act more as foremen of operations, leading teams of slaves and poorer gatherers.

The next are the Shtuzā (processors, literally those who make things become something else). This clan contains all the specialists that turn resources into something more usable, but do not make final products. The foremost occupation in here are the millers, who process plants into more edible things. Brickmakers are here as well. In fact many odds and ends type occupations are in this clan, especially when they aren't focused on a final product.

The last male clan is the Rqīnu (merchants). This clan encompasses all middlemen and people in charge of bringing goods and services from one place to another. Many are travelers (and the role of caravans in Kikxotian society merits its own post) with close connections to the warriors, fishers and hunter clans.  It is important to emphasize that there is no dishonor when people from other clans engage in trade. However, the only clan allowed to do it full time without dishonor are the merchants and they are the only people who routinely travel great distances for trade. Another occupation within this clan are the moneylenders. Finally, while tax collecting can be done by anyone, this appointment is dominated by hereditary tax collecting families from the merchant clan. While traditionally not a highly respected clan, they are wealthy and strong in contemporary Kikxotian society, which is heavily reliant on trade. One major class struggle is the inability for rich merchants to marry their children into the Bear Kkubī, though sacrifices and gifts sometimes sway wyīúuzō into "seeing" and approving merchants' children's adoption into those clans.

The first female bee clan are the Qsurā (craftsmen, lit. shapers). This encompasses all occupations related to creating finished goods. Some of the notable jobs are smiths, leatherworkers, potters, weavers, bakers, and brewers. This does note include joiners/carpenters/coopers or masons. A note about food production: there is no shame in cooking for oneself or family. This includes baking and brewing. Many, if not most cooks in rich households are slaves. The cooks occupations are fairly small and specialists. But they do fall in here.

The next female bee clan is the Hnību (builders). Other than the day laborers that physically erect buildings (mixed in with slaves, of course), this includes architects, carpenters, shipwrights, (civil) engineers, and masons. Basically if the craftsmen make small items, the builders make big items (well buildings and vehicles).

The final clan is the Simat (dancers, covers all artist types). These are the traveling minstrels, actors, dancers, griots, poets and other such artistic occupations that aren't tied to making something physical. They're one of the most looked down upon clans. Almost all simat are nomads and their well known for their taboo against sea products. Despite the general mistrust people have in them, they often serve as spies (or at least sources of information) for princes. In fact, restricting the movement of a simatzō is considered highly taboo, even in times of war. Custom provides that they must always be allowed to move, because stopping their "dance" is an attack on their duty.

I'll finish off by discussing some harder to place occupations, followed by some patterns and symbols. I will then end with a brief discussion on the societal implications of the caste system. Medical occupations are spread out through different clans, depending on the role. 'Spiritual' doctors come from the clergy, while physician-surgeons are scribes. Finally, apothecaries come from the craftsmen clan. Midwives can belong to any clan. Sorcerers (qlusāzō) do not below to any clan, as it is a taboo occupation. This is true of other taboo occupations as well.

As can be seen, male clans are more associated with destruction, with gathering and with movement, while female clans are more about creation. Male is seen as external and female internal. While really the discussion for another article, this aligns with traditional gender roles in kikxotian society. Other symbolism can be seen with the animals. Bears are a symbol of power and the verb agdōk "to be noble" comes from the same root as gōduk "bear". Sheep, as bearers of wool, meat and milk, are a completely understandable symbol for the clans that are dedicated to food production. Finally, bees are seen as productive workers who work together to create good things. This fits well with the different non-food producers and creators, who are constantly working together to different things. As such, while the scale of each constellation is different, they are all very respectable.

Finally, a bit of sociology. The caste system both causes and solves problems for the Kikxotians. The fact is that many broader tasks require input from different clans working together in close quarters. Even a small village requires at least farmers, leaders, and warriors together, plus probably some extractors and craftsmen, maybe some priests, in comes a merchant, so on and so forth. Thus, there even though there are strong status differences between, the caste system actually makes people earn some respect from their peers (hopefully). At the same time though, it does hold those same hierarchies in place. Exogamy and a way to change castes also helps with keeping peace in society. In the first case, it furthers the bonds across clans rather than creating competition. The other case allows for fluidity to face demographic problems and (to some degree) gaps between wealth and status. Speaking of demographics, is suffices to say that the bear clans are much smaller than the others and that this is some variation in size between the different clans. They also are definitely not equally spread out geographically. A final thing to mention is that the omnipresence of kikxotian religion helps legitimize the caste system, while the system helps the religion remain omnipresent in their society. It is hard to say which came first and the most likely answer in that they coevolved. Even more liberal sects do not touch the caste system very much.